Chapter One: Strawberry Lemonade

The frantic knocking of the front door indicated that Jessi's guest had arrived. Already, she could tell that the man was nervous, simply by the uncertain pattern that the knocks had followed. She had heard from her own mother that the men summoned by the Deliahs often were, and supposed that it was a sign that things were unfolding as they should. Drifting into the doorframe, she approached him with a smile. He excreted apprehension.

"Strawberry Lemonade, I'm guessing?"

"Uh, yeah. Hi. Really nice to meet you." He reached out to shake her hand, surprisingly enough a real gentleman.

Jessi twirled her hair softly, examining the strange looking fellow while trying to keep a look of judgment off of her face. Sure, his sense of style was a little strange, and those lip piercings would make giving him signature kisses extraordinarily difficult, but it was easy to tell that beneath his rough, punk interior was a heart of gold. Even if she was positive that those eyelashes weren't his own.

"I like your jacket," she smiled, searching to end the awkward pause that had ensued, "It's very...original."

He flinched as if she had slapped him. "Oh, jeez, I wasn't even thinking!", he apologized. "Should I have dressed up or redone my hair or..."

She shook her head, cutting him off. "No, no. I like seeing who people really are before I...well, you know. I feel like it makes me expect what to look for in my children." She wanted to move things along quickly; all of a sudden, she was feeling rather annoyed. She had no reason to, she knew - Strawberry seemed to be a very kindly man. But the emotion persisted, and she attempted to at least seem polite. "Anyway, shall we go to my guest room? I'd like to get to know your personality a little more."

Strawberry looked at her confusedly. "You mean we're not going to...?"

"Hey, don't I have a right to know about you before we get to the baby making part? It'll make things less awkward." Typical men, always expecting that she was only interested in Woohooing. Well, then again, it was her job. Kind of.

"Right, right." His hands slunk into his pockets, as if he was trying to retreat.

"Follow me."

Meanwhile, the three children of the Deliah household were delightfully unaware of the siblings in their future. Though unaware of it, they were the first of many children to come, their father an obese gas station attendant who proved to be good practice for their mother's flirtation skills.

Lotus Deliah carefully brought her brush across the surface of the canvas her mother had ordered online for her, blissfully unaware that such an expensive gift would be uncommon in the household for quite some time. Recent money issues had forced Jessi to throw herself into novel creation, whose royalties only came once a week. Lotus was deadset on winning her school's art contest, sure that her refreshing, thrilling depiction of her household was sure to win the judges' hearts.

Axel "Pudge" Deliah was busy neglecting his homework for the blocks table. But even sweeping down carefully stacked blocks with the back of his hand over and over again became old hat after a while, and as it got progressively darker he joined his sister Petal on the couch, book in hand.

"Hey, Petal, what's this word say?" Axel asked, motioning to the beginning of a paragraph.

"Giovanni. Gee-oh-von-knee. It's a name." Petal, who was practically born with a book in her hand, far outpaced the two when it came to her ability to read.

"Oh, okay. And what's this one?"

Petal placed her copy of Logic and Bishops to the side, and scooted closer to her brother. "And."

"And this one."

"What, the one next to 'his'? Brothers."

"And the next one."

"Bonded."

"Okay, okay, and this one?"

"Why don't I just read this to you, okay?"

In the meantime, things had steadily progressed between Strawberry and Jessi, who were doing a little "bonding" of their own.

"Are you ready?" she teased, draping a finger across Strawberry's shoulder and giving him a smoldering stare. Strawberry's face merely turned into the exact shade of the fruit in response to the question. God, she felt a ridiculous prick. This entire flirting business was something she would never be able to get down. Anyway, her donor had changed into something a little more comfortable, and she intended to get him out of it as quickly as possible.

"I'll take your silence as a yes. Let's begin, okay? Nice and slow."

A few hours later, Jessi excused herself for the bathroom, making it just  in time. She was an absolute mess, her lips pursed in an unladylike shape and her eyes dark. It was beginning.

~*~*~

NOTE) Since it was pretty difficult to get a good look at Strawberry's face (stupid punk hair), here's a facial shot.